It is our goal to collect the highest quality EMS data possible. While collecting perfect data of any type is impossible, the Office of EMS strives to meet the same standards as other health care related databases. By providing “tips” to our agencies we hope each agency will take a couple of minutes to use the report provided in the tip to review the quality of its data and make any needed changes to correct, improve, or maintain high quality data. Voluntarily correcting problems helps to avoid the need for further validation rules, XSD changes, and compliance issues.

The Virginia EMS minimum dataset includes the requirement that NEMSIS element D07_02 State Certification Number be reported for each individual provider/user in the VPHIB system. We ask that each agency take a couple minutes to ensure your agency has quality information in the system. A report to check your agency’s compliance with the reporting of certification numbers has been added to Report Writer 2 and will only take a couple minutes to run. To find the report, open Report Writer 2; in the “All Reports” area go into the “Service Information” folder. The report is called “Certification Number QA.”

Certification Number - All persons staffing EMS units must have some type of unique certification number traceable to an individual (first and last name required) in order for your reporting to be in compliance with state and national EMS data standards. Each certified provider should have their Virginia EMS certification number noted i.e. B072904102. For each non-OEMS certified staff/member(s) the agency must also assign a unique number.

The following is the numbering process all agencies shall use. For Drivers use “DRV+your five digit agency number+001 then 002, 003 and so on. For “Thirds” use THRD+your five digit agency number+001 then 002, 003 and so on. For Students use STUD+your five digit agency number+001 then 002, 003 and so on. For Pilots use PIL+your five digit agency number+001 then 002, 003 and so on. For administrative only access (i.e. billing) use ADM+your five digit agency number+001 then 002, 003 and so on. An example of a non-certified driver at Earlysville Vol. Rescue Squad would be DRV00754001 and a second driver would be DRV00754002.

If an agency wishes to collect information on other persons other than those prescribed above, they may do so by utilizing the “user defined questions” feature in VPHIB or including the individual(s) in the narrative portion of the EMS medical record. It is our goal to collect the assigned staff of the units and not observers, ride-alongs, or additional help that is not part of the original unit staffing.

The use of generic user ID’s violates multiple state security standards and accounts will be eliminated without notice.